Student Engagement

Reversing Chronic Disengagement

Reframe Classroom Assignments

When students start kindergarten they are engaged and active learners. But engagement steadily decreases as students progress through the grades; by high school, studies have found, half of students say they are bored and 40-60 percent are “chronically disengaged.” Passive note-taking, isolated practice, and fill-in-the-blank questioning all contribute to chronic student disengagement.

We work with teachers to ensure 100% student engagement for 100% of class time by:

Shifting from passive to active note taking during mini-lessons
Increasing opportunities for purposeful and meaningful discourse and discussion
Designing student-centered classroom activities that systematically and structurally ensure participation
Using engaging problem-solving and critical thinking exploration activities
Reframing classroom assignments and activities in a positive light

The way a teacher frames an assignment or activity can make all the difference to the level of student engagement. Consider the instructions given by two teachers:

Teacher A: “You’re going to read the next three pages. When you finish, you are going to answer the five questions that follow the reading.”

Teacher B: “When I tell you to begin, you will have one minute 45 seconds. You are going to read the next paragraph looking for the main point. As you read, you are going to highlight any words or phrases that support what you believe is the main point. When you are finished, be prepared to share with a partner or with the entire class. You may begin.”

Check out instructions, including sample math lessons, in each of the student-centered, high-engagement activities below! SOLVED works collaboratively with teachers to design and implement instructional activities proven to increase student participation and engagement.

Jigsaw Lessons
Discussion & Discourse
3 Rotations
Gallery Walk

Jigsaw Classroom Instructions

1. Initial Groups In groups of four or five, students complete the “Become an Expert” activity. Each group receives a different assignment/topic labeled A, B, C, D ,E, etc. All students in Group A complete the Group A activity. All students in Group B complete the Group B activity and so on.

2. Jigsaw Groups After completing the “Become an Expert” activity, students regroup. One member from each group will form five new jigsaw groups as shown below.

3. Display Work Each jigsaw group member tapes his or her “Become an Expert” activity on the wall or a poster to ensure that all work can be viewed simultaneously.

4. Collaboration & Discourse Students collaboratively respond to each Jigsaw Question and are expected to engage in mathematical discourse during this time.

5. Participation To encourage full participation, have students take turns reading each Jigsaw Question aloud. Group A team member reads question 1 aloud, then Group B team member reads question 2 aloud, and so on.

Classroom Discussion & Discourse

Students love to talk. So do teachers,” say Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (San Diego State University) in an Educational Leadership article. But classroom talk is not always productive, and in many classrooms, especially those with low-achieving students, teachers are dominating the classroom and disengaging students. Rather than combating chatty students, SOLVED works with teachers to channel their natural thirst for discourse into productive academic discussions.

We challenge teachers to ignite classroom discussions using three very simple responses to student answers:

why?
how do you know?
explain that please

And we ask teachers to write problems or questions that:

Includes different ways of seeing and interpreting
Allows for multiple entry points
Enables students to use different strategies
Provides opportunities for students to explain their thinking, strategies, and conceptions /misconception

My definition of a good teacher has changed from “one who explains things so well that students understand” to “one who gets students to explain things so well that they can be understood.”
-Steven C. Reinhart, “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!”Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School

Three Rotations Classroom/Instructional Models

In groups of 5-8, students spend roughly a third of the class period in three distinct rotational groups. Classroom “areas” are strategically designed to effectively implement the six instructional shifts outlined by the Common Core. Dividing class time into three rotations gives teachers more flexibility to engage students with unique learning activities and assignments. This model takes students' ever-shifting attention span into consideration and naturally differentiates instruction to accommodate a variety of learning styles.

We work collaboratively with teachers to implement and/ or modify the following three-rotation classroom models:

Differentiated Learning Activities
Piecing Together the Big Idea
Differentiated Content
Integrating Individualized Learning Software

Three Rotations | Differentiated Learning Activities

Research shows that students benefit from collaboration and discourse. Research also demonstrates the benefits of independent practice and sustained focus on an individual assignment or task. As educators, we are also expected to provide explicit instruction. How do we do all three within a single class period?

This model consists of the following three distinct learning stations:

Teacher-Led Core Instruction
Student-Led Collaborative Learning
Independent Practice

Three Rotations | Piecing Together the Big Idea

Understanding new concepts often means piecing together smaller chunks of a big idea. This model consists of three distinct learning stations designed to build students' familiarity with each component of the learning objective:

Connected-Learning Activity 1
Connected-Learning Activity 2
Connected Learning Activity 3

The three activities culminate in a whole-group discussion to emphasize and deepen the connections that tie together to form a bigger concept.

Three-Rotations | Differentiated Content

One of the instructional shifts in mathematics driven by the Common Core states: "Students are practicing and understanding. There is more than a balance between these two things in the classroom – both are occurring with dual intensity." The old battle between conceptual vs. procedural mathematics is over. Students need to be proficient with both.

In this model students spend time learning and applying new skills to problem-solving situations, practicing essential math procedures and actively learning new concepts:

Problem-Solving & Application
Procedural Practice
Active Note-taking/Interactive Notebook

Three Rotations | Integrating Individualized Learning Software

We are well into the 21st century. Individualized learning software is available at an affordable price. Integrate this technology into your classroom to ensure students receive real-time feedback and to collect real-time data on performance tied to Common Core standards.

Teacher-Led Core Instruction
Student-Led Collaborative Learning
Individualized Software Practice

Gallery Walk Classroom Instructions

1. Initial Groups In groups of 2-5, students complete a “Poster” activity in which they solve or create a problem. Each group receives a different problem or activity and records their strategies, reasoning, and solutions on large poster paper.

2. Hang Posters Each poster is strategically placed around the room to allow sufficient space for the gallery walk.

3. Gallery Walk In groups, students spend 2-5 minutes at each poster during the gallery walk. The purpose of the walk is for students to compare their work with each group’s response displayed on the poster. Students record whether their thinking differs or aligns with the strategies, reasoning, and solutions on each poster.

4. Reflect Students return to their seats and reflect on their Gallery Walk experience. They describe any further mathematical insights gained, new strategies learned, or advice they would like to offer for incorrect methods or solutions after viewing the work of their peers.